Weekly Hike #1: In the Foothills

Mr. D and I have a fitness plan this summer, and a part of that plan is to do a weekly hike together. Before this week, we have done a couple of longer walks to tune us (really just me) up for the more strenuous hiking season ahead. We did four miles on a nearby bicycle/pedestrian trail about a month ago, and two weeks ago we did a long walk with lots of up-and-down hills at St. Edward State Park.

Monday was our first true weekly hike, at Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park in Issaquah, about a 40-minute drive from home. We hiked over six miles in about three hours. It was a cool overcast day, perfect for hiking. Here are some scenes from the trail:

On the Red Town Trail, early in the hike.

It's salmonberry season. They are tangy, and a great source of vitamin C. They will shortly turn a red-orange and become a bit sweeter, but they are good to eat at this stage, too.

We ate a trail snack of pretzels.

We observed salal in bloom. This Northwest native is used a lot in landscaping. It grows wild in the woods.

We ended the hike with a picnic near Coal Creek.

There will be more weekly hikes this summer, so watch this space for more of our adventures.

What? I hear you saying,"I thought this was supposed to be a knitting blog."  Don't worry, it's coming...

Goat Days

Blackberry brambles are considered invasive and a "noxious weed" here in the Pacific Northwest, and are a problem at the park that is located up the hill from us. To solve the problem, the  city brought a farmer and his goats in to take care of the worst, most prickly patch of blackberries in the park. Since last Friday, they have been chowing down every day from noon to seven. Here is a glimpse of goats at work.

Thanks to Mr. D. (my husband) for the video!

Welcome to Blogland, Julie

After months and months of trying to decide on a name for my blog—I finally got that figured out—and at least six previous attempts at a first post, I decided today to just write what first comes into my head and post it.

After over twenty-five years of work in continuing education program management, I'm a recent early-retiree, and now that I have SO MUCH free time, I want to explore the bits of color that I observe in the world around me—in nature, in my everyday life and in my knitting and other fiber-related activities. I am hoping that this blog will help me do that. If this sounds intriguing, stay tuned; there is more to come.